Mizzou Baseball Recruits

■ Early success good omen for standouts (Denver Post)

At the time, no one knew. The coaches didn't. The parents didn't. The kids sure didn't. How could any of them know that of 15 players off an 8-year-old youth baseball team in 1999, nine would either turn pro or play college ball, in a variety of sports, and four more would play varsity baseball?

When these 8-year-olds weren't pounding homers like Albert Pujols over 200-foot fences, or beating Puerto Rico in a national tournament, their biggest goal in life was getting the best burger after the game.

It has been 10 years since that magical Roberto Clemente baseball team, the Colorado Apache Arrows, went 67-7. If they had a reunion, they wouldn't talk about the weird drills coach Glenn Bonnell devised, or the times they trounced teams of
10-year-olds.

They would swap college recruiting stories and tales about overzealous agents. Their reunions consist of battles on the field, such as in a Class 5A state baseball semifinal last month when Eric Anderson pitched Mountain Vista High past Cherry Creek and reliever Alex Blackford, his former Arrows teammate.